Special Olympics at Blake Middle School: "A Great Time"

A jam-packed gym complete with fans, athletes, Celtics cheerleaders, and plenty of excitement. Basketballs are flying as the fans, complete with signs, cheer for the participating athletes. No, this is not a Boston Celtics game at the TD Garden; it is the Special Olympics at Blake Middle School.

Last Friday, for the first time ever, Blake Middle School hosted the Basketball Day Games for students from Medfield, Medway, Ashland, Holliston, and Millis. The event was completed with around 65 athletes, plenty of volunteers, and a few special guests, including several Celtics cheerleaders, mascot Lucky the Leprechaun, President Mr. Rich Gotham, and former player Dana Barros.

The integral part of the event was the athletes who, for a couple of hours, participated in eight different stations, practicing the fundamentals of basketball including dribbling, passing, and shooting.

In retrospect, Mr. Matthew LaCava, Medfield Public Schools Director of Pupil Services, says Blake was the ideal place for the games “due to its size” and because Medfield “had the greatest number of athletes attending.”

He went on to discuss the immense planning for the event—a process that lasted for nearly a year with many people involved, including Medfield senior Anna Poirier who says that “being on the committee was a huge honor.”

After all of the planning, both Poirier and LaCava were happy with how it all turned out because, as LaCava says, “It appeared as though everyone had a great time.”

As a volunteer at the event, I can personally concur with Mr. LaCava’s assessment on the success of the event. Fellow volunteer, Mike Lamb, too, said, “I think the kids had an incredible amount of fun throughout the day.”

Lamb also said, after the event, that he “will absolutely sign up to do it again,” adding, “It was a fantastic experience.”

Going forward, LaCava says that the games could “possibly” be at Blake Middle School again, but, in any case, “There will be another event next spring.” Hopefully, next year’s event will prove as successful as this year’s for it was a great inaugural Basketball Day Games at Blake Middle School.

This article was written by Patrick Buscone, a Medfield High School student and member of the student newspaper, The Kingsbury Chronicle. The piece is part of Medfield Patch's weekly series, "Warrior Weekly," helping provide information about MHS to the local community.